This is a picture of a pair of tap shoes with Savion Glover's signature on the bottom. This picture represents two kinds of literacy, one would be knowledge about who Savion Glover is and why it would be special to have his signature on a pair of tap shoes. (One might remember Savion from his appearances on Sesame Street, or his show Bring in da Noise, Bring in da Funk that came to Minneapolis a few years ago). Or, tap dancing can also involve literacy in that there is a language associated with tap dancing. For example, if I were to write down a small combination such as, "shuffle ball change, shuffle hop step, slurpie" a person who had never taken a tap class before may read it and think of it as gibberish, but on the other hand, a person who had taken a few years of tap may be able to read the combination and perform the steps perfectly without a demonstration. Furthermore, as a dance instructor, I have had to become skilled in writing out choreography for my students in a clear and effective manner.
You hit a lot of important points here, Patricia. First, the schema connection is obvious. I didn't know who Savion Glover was until you helped trigger my background knowledge. I did know that someone's signature on the bottom of a pair of shoes was special, but I didn't know the significance until you pointed it out. Being literate is all about background knowledge.
ReplyDeleteSecond, you highlight that all important idea that we're all illiterate in some way. Your example of tap dance language was a memorable way to think about this. I might not think of "shuffle ball change" as gibberish, but instead a language I don't know--and in that way I feel a bit chagrined. We can transfer this feeling to the high school classroom when kids come to Chemistry or American History or Art class without the required background knowledge to make sense of that disciplinary literacy. Here's a good example of how powerful vocabulary is to learning and understanding.
Finally, your post reminds us that writing has many different forms. Choreographing a dance is a form of writing, as is composing music, painting, and tatooing! A comprehensive understanding of literacy demands that we broaden our perspective of what it means to communicate, to recognize the literacies our students bring with them, to build on these literacies, and to initiate kids into the forms of literacy that make learning in our field accessible and interesting.
I love the picture of the tap shoes. Are they your tap shoes? I also think that they hit alot of points of literacy that you don't realize. I love thinking of a different language as a different form of literacy because it requires a different mind set in order to understand it. Also as a theater person I love to think of moving the body in a way to tell a story. This is another unique form of literacy because you are not speaking or listening, but rather watching for the story through movement.
ReplyDeleteYes they are mine, I don't wear them anymore though!
ReplyDeleteI like this picture as well, but as I mentioned in Katie's response, I wouldnt know what to think of the signature. For all I know, it could be the previous owners signature, worth nothing, or one of the best dancers in the world, worth everything. I think only a dancer or someone involved in dance could value them for what they are worth.
ReplyDeleteFurthermore, I agree with dance being a form of literacy. I know that last winter I went a saw a ballet with a friend of mine who is in dance. While I sat there and thought, "oh that's cool", she was floored by the performance. I couldn't see all the work and the difficulty it takes to make a ballet look that graceful. I did appreciate it, but if i was "ballet literate" I think it would have been a different experience.
Wow, you have really made your point with the diferent kinds of literacy about the world of tap dancing. I have never stepped foot into a dance studio so I do not know anything about dancing, expecially tap. This was particularly interesting because you made me think in a way that I had never thought of before. It also made me think of all the forms of literacy that I have that others would not be able to pick up. For example,hockey terms that I do not even think about because they are so commonly used. This example of the tap shoes just reminds me of all the things that I do not know and makes me want to learn more about all sorts of things.
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